Polish police have arrested 138 individuals from 15 different regions of Poland based on pedophilia-related computer usage.

"Police officers from Katowice, southern Poland, seized ten files containing child pornography. On that basis, they identified the personal details of over 7,000 Internet users from many countries, including over a hundred from Poland," the spokesman of the Polish Police Headquarters, Mariusz Sokolowski, announced to the press.

Sokolowski revealed that the police intercepted 144 personal computers and a few thousand DVDs and other media containing child pornography, as a result of searches of computer hard disks conducted in 117 households across the country.



Police conducted the operation as a sting, watching internet servers to find IP addresses. These IP addresses were then traced to the home of the user, and police raided and completed the arrests at the same time, all over the country.



The highest numbers arrested are from Katowice, Warsaw and Poznan. Among those arrested are paramedics, bankers, private business owners and several unemployed people. Sokolowski added that some had already pleaded guilty and are facing up to ten years' imprisonment.



A similar sting operation took place earlier this year, in April, when 34 pedophiles were arrested for downloading pornographic content featuring children and minors from the internet. This action took place under the leadership of Spanish police. These operations, as conducted by Polish police, are part of a Europe-wide offensive to root out and prosecute pedophiles. These initiatives have already led to numerous arrests in countries like Switzerland, Greece and Germany.